Alone
by Ray-Tiger-Cat
Summary: [Oneshot] When Mr. Dickenson gives the team a week off to spend some quality time with their families, he fails to think about those without family. Someone in particular takes it hard and it's up to Kai to stop them before they get hurt.


RTC: Hey everyone! For anyone here for yoai, you're looking in the wrong place, so try elsewhere. Just thought I'd make that clear before I continue, though if you still want to read a friendship fic between Kai and Ray, you're more than welcome to stay!

Ray: She's writing a oneshot centered around me! Has anyone else realized that she hasn't written one yet?!

RTC: It's true; despite the fact that I love Ray best, I haven't written a oneshot-or anything else-about him yet! I just wanted it to be especially good when I did write one! This oneshot is dedicated to my friend Misery Writer, who is one of the very best for torturing Kai and Ray! I'm completely amazed that she reads some of my work, considering she's got a lot of talent, yet she doesn't look down on me! Wishing that you had loads of time to write, because I love your work!

Kai: I'm forced to cut this mush short and go to the disclaimer before I puke. Ray-Tiger-Cat does not own Beyblade-how many times do we have to tell you guys that?!

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"No! Don't!" Ray was shouting in his sleep.

"Ray! Ray, wake up!"

"Huh, what?" Ray said as his eyes slowly opened.

"You were screaming in your sleep. Bad dream?" Max asked.

"You could say that," Ray mumbled. He looked around and was relieved to see that only Max and Kai had been around to witness his screaming.

"You okay?" Max wondered.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"That's good, because we have a meeting with Mr. Dickenson in half an hour. So get moving!" Kai ordered as he left the room. Max gave Ray a sympathetic glance before following their captain out, leaving Ray to his thoughts.

'Oh man, not that dream again. I can't believe...' Ray stopped himself before he became any more depressed and instead focussed on getting dressed before Kai killed him.

"Well boys, and Hilary," Mr. D amended, upon seeing her glare; "this meeting isn't about training, or tournaments, or anything of the sort."

"But Mr. Dickenson, training and tournaments are important!" Tyson exclaimed. "What else could be so important that you decided to call a meeting for all of us?"

"Remind me to use that 'training is important' bit next time he's complaining about it," Hilary remarked.

"Now, now. This is about something much more important that your blading careers-your families. It has come to my attention that you children don't spend nearly enough time with your families, so I've arranged for out-of-town relatives to fly in and in-town relatives to take a break from work so that you may all have a week off to spend with them."

"Mom's coming?" Max screeched happily.

"And Dad and Hiro too?!" Tyson added.

"And my mother?!" Daichi wondered.

"My parents are taking the week off?!" both Hilary and Kenny shouted.

Mr. Dickenson simply nodded.

'Please tell me he didn't call Voltaire," Kai thought, but quickly realized that their sponsor would have more sense that that.

"Hey, Kai, aren't you excited?" Daichi asked.

"A week of is a week of, I guess," he replied, and the team quickly pulled Daichi away before he could ask any awkward questions.

"Well then, as of this moment, your holiday start! Enjoy yourselves!" Mr. Dickenson announced.

During all the excitement, and the touchy subject of Kai's family, no one had noticed that Ray was completely silent. In fat, he had slipped out of the room halfway through the meeting.

'Why is it every time I'm happy, the memory comes back to haunt me? Why am I always the one that's suffering? It's not fair!' Ray mused.

'Maybe... maybe you shouldn't be here. After all, your parents didn't make it, so why should you keep on living?' a voice sneered at him.

'So much pain! Make it all go away! Make it stop! I want to live!' Ray argued.

'Don't lie,' the voice said. 'You know you've wanted to be dead for years! You wanted to die when they did!'

'They wouldn't want it.'

'No, they'd be thrilled to see you again. You know they would. And you wouldn't be suffering either. It's really quite painless,' the voice countered. 'They aren't watching over you! If they were, you wouldn't feel so alone all the time!'

'That's true. It's all true,' Ray admitted, knowing the battle was lost. 'The last battle I'll loose.'

Ray had been so deep in thought that he didn't realize where his legs were carrying him. Snapping back to his sense, he quickly discovered that he was on a train track-with a freight train heading straight for him at top speed. The conductor wouldn't be able to stop, even if he had spotted ray and Ray felt paralysed with fear, knowing that this would be his end. He closed his eyes and whispered an apology, just as the train was about to hit. 'Good bye, cruel world.'

Suddenly, Ray felt something heavy tackle him from the side and felt himself fall. Thinking that the blow was much too light to have been the train, Ray opened his eyes.

"You couldn't have picked a safer method? Or at least a slower acting one? You know, pills, blood lose," a voice said from a few feet away.

"K-Kai?" Ray suddenly felt his whole body start trembling violently. He just couldn't stop shaking. "I'm-I'm... so close..." he muttered incoherently.

"Hn. It'll be alright," Kai replied as he grabbed one of Ray's arms and pulled him to his feet. "Come with me."

Still holding Ray's arm, Kai started to lead his team mate away from the train tracks, holding especially tightly as they crossed the tracks, as though fearing Ray would go running after the train to finish it.

A short walk later, they found themselves in front of an apartment building. Upon entering his apartment, Kai forced Ray onto the couch and walked into the kitchen. "Sit still. I'll be back in a minute."

As he prepared some tea for Ray and coffee for himself, Kai braced himself for his talk with Ray. His worst suspicions-that Ray might attempt suicide-had now been confirmed, and Kai was trying desperately to find the right things to tell Ray. 'Hey, if he and the others convinced me not to die, then the least I should be able to do is stop Ray. Best go with the honest approach,' Kai thought.

Five minutes later, Kai pressed the cup of tea into the still shaking Ray's hands and said, "Okay, spill."

Ray closed his eyes and turned his head away.

"Ray, it's okay. I won't judge you," Kai tried. It was really hard for him to try to be soft of his friend.

"I bet you're laughing at me inside, aren't you? Stupid Ray, tried to kill himself. What problems did he have?" Ray replied sarcastically. He opened one eye and found Kai sitting on the floor, leaning against a chair, surveying him critically.

"I'm not laughing, Ray. Now come one, tell me why you tried... that."

"You wouldn't understand," Ray said after a very long pause.

"Wouldn't I? I've been there, Ray. I know what it feels like when you think your only option is death. How else would I have identified your behaviour as suicidal and start following you?"

"You? Suicidal?" Ray seemed genuinely interested.

"Yeah. A long time ago. I was pretty bad off."

"What stopped you?"

"Ray, you remember the lake?" Kai asked, wishing he could just forget the whole incident.

"Yeah... You were serious, weren't you?!" Ray gasped. "All this time I thought you were just disappointed at your lose!"

"Hn. I really wanted to die then most of all. I thought I'd lost everything-my family, my bitbeast, and you guys, my friends. But you proved me wrong and stopped me..." Kai trailed off as he realized that Ray had started shaking again at the mention of family. "Is it the whole family thing that's got you so depressed?" Kai asked as he moved to the spot next to Ray and put his hand on Ray's shoulder.

"Yes."

"Why don't you tell me what exactly is bothering you?"

"My parents... they're dead and it all my fault!" Ray sobbed.

"Ray, I'm sure it wasn't. Look, I'm trying this whole 'be supportive' crap you guys have spent the last three years drilling into my brain, so could you at least try to respond?" Kai said, hoping it would draw at least a small smile.

Ray gave Kai a startled glance, but proceeded to explain anyway. "When I was nine, my village was having some disputes with neighbouring village over land, resources, and the like. Anyway, the conflict started escalating to actual violence and everyone was scared there'd be a war or something," Ray mumbled.

"Go on."

With tears streaming down his face, Ray continued, "One night, there was an attack. The other village was attacking homes at random. One of which was mine. My dad, he shoved both me and my mom into a room, hoping he could hold them off until help arrived. It didn't come. He was killed. I heard his final scream. My mom, she knew things were going to get uglier, so she locked me into a cupboard and wasted her opportunity to flee. They came in and, well, they killed her too... If only they hadn't been trying to protect me!"

Kai awkwardly patted Ray on the back. "That doesn't make it your fault! They were just doing what any parents would do."

"I miss them so much, Kai."

"I know, but that's no reason to try and end it. What about us, Ray, your friends? You've been telling me for years that friends stick together and then you try this?"

"I'm sorry. I've never gotten that close to... well, you know. If you hadn't been there, I'd probably be dead right now... Thank you," Ray whispered.

"Hn." There was another long silence.

"Hey, Kai, do you... do you think I'm crazy?" Ray wondered.

"Crazy?" Kai actually smiled at this. "You think I think you're crazy? No, of course I don't think that."

Ray returned the smile, rather shakily, but smiled back nonetheless.

"So what happened to your family?" Ray ventured, hoping to deflect the attention from himself.

"It's a long story, but the short version is that my parents are dead, and well, you all know what Voltaire is like. Now I need you to promise me that you won't try another stunt like that," Kai said sternly.

"I don't know if I can do that, Kai."

Kai sighed. "Well, will you at least come to me for help if you feel that down again?"

Ray nodded. "I'll try."

"That's all I can ask of you. Now, how about a match?" Kai asked, pulling out Dranzer in the hopes that it would cheer Ray up.

"You're on!"

'As long as I have the support and help from my friend, I know I won't be alone ever again! I can beat this!'

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RTC: Okay, so there you have it! Another role-reversal. I seem to be quite fond of them. I just got a bit tired of the Ray saving Kai from killing himself thing, so I switched it and I hope it turned out okay. And hopefully Ray's parents' deaths weren't too random. I have no idea where that idea came from. Actually, this was one of my random-middle-of-the-night ideas, so that might explain a few things! (My day-time brain just wasn't cutting it!) Well, see you all later!


End file.
